


Interludes in Single Fatherhood

by guava



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe, Featuring Nico and Parad as the kids again!, Fluff, M/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 08:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10895574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guava/pseuds/guava
Summary: AU. Single father Hanaya Taiga is very happy to have hit it off with fellow single father Dan Kuroto. The prospect of becoming one family with Kuroto is perhaps sooner than Taiga expected.





	Interludes in Single Fatherhood

Just as Taiga was about to rip the lavender tie off Kuroto's neck, he remembered that Kuroto was leaving his apartment for an early meeting. What a shame, but there was always the next weekend for them to meet again. Taiga pulled the tie completely off Kuroto anyway and looped it back around Kuroto's neck to tie a neat knot. 

While Taiga busied himself with adjusting Kuroto's collar, Kuroto reached up to stroke his wrist.

"It'd be nice for you to be my wife for a while longer," Kuroto said.

"Don't call me that," Taiga insisted.

He hoped he hadn't blushed at the words 'my wife'. 

Sooner than Taiga had expected, his and Kuroto's weekend alone together had come to an end. It had been great, but Taiga would rather not extend it if it involved Nico being away from home again. Being a single parent apparently meant double the separation anxiety for Taiga; a secret which he had to keep from Nico along with the secret of his relationship with Kuroto. 

Taiga was busy, and Kuroto was busy too. Taiga would wait for his kid to come back from camp, and Kuroto was going to drive to his parents' place this evening and pick up his own kid. 

"I can't believe your son is used to it," Taiga said. "Nico would throw a fit if I make her stay overnight with relatives out of the blue." 

"When Parad finally has a mama, I won't do that anymore," Kuroto declared. 

"Now who would that be?" 

As Kuroto leaned down to kiss Taiga again, Taiga winded his arms around Kuroto's neck. This would definitely have to be their last kiss until they meet again. Taiga shouldn't give in to the tempation to skip work, to make Kuroto skip work and be with him, and to say as a joke, 'Make lots of money, husband.'

* * *

Now that the daughter was back, things at the Hanaya residence returned to its normal state. Or so Taiga thought. 

Post-dinner, he was washing the dirty dishes as if on autopilot, until Nico siddled next to him and peered into the sink. 

"Are you still feeling hungry?" Taiga asked. 

"I'll do that," Nico said, and grabbed the bowl which Taiga was in the middle of cleaning straight out of Taiga's hands. 

Nico took an extra sponge, squirted some dishwashing liquid onto it and began scrubbing the dirty bowl. The daughter doing household chores without Taiga's prompting and without making any attempts to excuse; now that's a rare occurrence in the Hanaya residence. 

Taiga chose not to question it. He turned back to the sink and was rinsing a plate, when it was suddenly snatched out of his hands. Then another plate, another bowl and the glass which Taiga used; all the remaining dirty dishes were subjected to Nico's rash of diligent scrubbing. 

'Whatever they made her do at camp, it's certainly for the best,' Taiga thought. 

Still, he couldn't ignore his intuition telling him that there was a deeper reason for Nico's sudden diligence. It couldn't be a need for extra pocket money, for the last time Taiga checked, she hadn't spent all of the prize money from her last pro-gaming tournament. 

"Well?" Nico demanded once the tap was turned off and the dishes were done. "Aren't you going to praise me?" 

"For doing something any kid can do?" 

When Taiga moved to dry Nico's hands with the kitchen towel, Nico grabbed even that from him too and flung it back at him. Here it comes; the reveal of what was really on her mind. Judging from her barely restrained fury, Taiga could guess what she was going to say next, 'How could you force me to go for that horrible camp!' 

"How dare you go out with the Genm President behind my back!" Nico shouted. 

"Who...who's that, again?" 

The last and only time when Nico saw Taiga interacting with Kuroto was back when he and Kuroto first met. It ought to be plausible that Taiga had totally forgotten who the CEO of Genm Corporation was. 

But Nico wasn't buying it for a couple of good reasons. 

"One!" Nico pointed at the dog tag which Taiga was wearing around his neck. "That's a limited edition collector's item from _Bang Bang Shooting_ by Genm Corp! Must be a present from the Genm President, I bet."

Not only that, it was actually an _anniversary_ present with Taiga's blood type and birthday engraved upon it. Taiga wasn't about to tell Nico that and give her the wrong impression that normal grown men (not Dan Kuroto) celebrated monthly anniversaries. Yet before he could think up an excuse for the dog tag, Nico marched in the direction of the living room and left Taiga alone. 

She returned in a flash with something enclosed in her fist. 

"Two," Nico raised the object on her palm close to Taiga's face, "You can't explain away this hard evidence."

Said object was a thin piece of metal with a little ball on each end. As Taiga didn't use such accessories, he had to take a few seconds to recognize it as Kuroto's collar pin. 

He vaguely remembered Kuroto removing it in the midst of making out with Taiga at the doorway, and then putting it aside on top of the shoe cupboard. 

Nico must have found it there. She was right; this was hard evidence that Taiga ought to have put away. 

As Taiga tried to take the collar pin back, Nico closed it again in her fist and ran away. He heard her shouting from her room, "You're only getting this back after giving me a proper explanation!"

"Stop talking like you're the parent here," Taiga shouted back. 

No reply from Nico. Taiga sighed and paced up and down the kitchen, thinking about what to say to her. He glanced over at the gleaming crockery arranged on the dish rack, and the image of Nico setting her little gamer hands to the dirty dishes resurfaced in his mind.

Today was only Monday, and Taiga shouldn't keep her up late on a school night. 

* * *

Nico already knew where Taiga first met Dan Kuroto--at the Genm Corp security office, where Nico and Kuroto's son were escorted to after their in-game fight for the highest score escalated to an all-out hair-pulling and leg-kicking brawl. 

Just as Taiga was wondering how to discipline Nico, the Genm CEO suggested that the kids make up over sweets at a dessert cafe nearby. Typical of a charming, shiny corporate type, Taiga thought. He tried not to be embarassed as Nico shoveled spoonful after spoonful of strawberry parfait into her mouth while glaring daggers at Kuroto's son, who was too busy with burying his face in his chocolate sundae to care.

While the kids enjoyed their desserts, the adults talked over coffee. 

"I'm sorry for the video," Taiga said, referring to the one taken of the kids' fight and spread over the internet. "That'll be some extra work for your PR team." 

"It's no problem at all! I think it can be great publicity to show how kids are really into our company's games," CEO Dan said, smiling the smile of a professional businessman. "I'm very happy that your daughter is a big fan of our work. We'd like to invite her to some of our promotional events and shoots for pro gamers if she's interested."

Many people in the gaming world had made such offers to Nico ever since her fame as Genius Gamer N started to grow. Unlike those other times, there was a good chance that what the Genm CEO was offering could lead to valuable opportunities for Nico to develop herself as a gamer. 

Still, Taiga wasn't about to let Nico navigate business dealings with adults alone. To know exactly what Genm Corp could do for Nico, he agreed to have another meeting with CEO Dan. Then another meeting, then a date, and another date; until Kuroto became less shiny and more familiar with each day. 

* * *

To Taiga's story on how he and Kuroto happened, Nico responded with, "In other words, you sold your body for my gaming career." 

Taiga snorted, keeping his eyes fixed on the ceiling of Nico's room. Lying beside her on top of her bedsheets which he had washed, sunned and changed without her help, he talked to her as she kept herself completely hidden under her pink comforter. He knew just what to say to get her to come out. 

"I'll sell your in-game items," Taiga mock-threatened. "And sell your game money for extra money. And that weapon you got after that one day gaming event--" 

"Okay, okay!" Nico exclaimed, pulling down the comforter to pop her little head out. "You can date the Genm CEO!" 

Which other father needed his daughter's permission to date? Taiga was relieved that he had gotten it anyway, and even more relieved when Nico pressed her pillow against his shoulder before lying on it. 

"Hey old man," Nico mumbled, and Taiga was going to let that pass just for tonight. "Did you send me for that camp so you could do adult things with your rich boyfriend?" 

"Of course not. I can do adult things on my own, like sending you to learn survival skills at camp." 

"Hmph. At least get someone who's willing to help you with the dishes." 

Kuroto had helped, which resulted in the breaking of Nico's #SWAG mug. It was actually Taiga's fault for taking it down while thinking about what Nico was eating and drinking at camp; he was the one who dropped it when Kuroto suddenly hugged him from behind and told him to not worry about his little girl. 

* * *

If Nico didn't want Taiga sleeping beside her all night, she would have to give him back Kuroto's collar pin. The trade was carried out, and Taiga arranged to return it Kuroto the next day. 

They met on Kuroto's way to drive Parad to school. As Kuroto stepped out of his car, Parad remained in the backseat of the black Mercedes-Benz and rolled down the window to greet Taiga. 

"Hello, Dr. Hanaya!" Parad said. "Please tell Nico that I'd like to play with her again. And this is for her." 

Taiga caught a medium-sized Rubik's cube from him; one that was already twisted to display rows of different colours on each side. He pocketed it and thanked Parad on Nico's behalf, though he was sure that Nico would eventually resort to brute force to 'solve' it. 

Without Kuroto's prompting, Parad rolled the window back up so Taiga and Kuroto could talk by themselves. 

"What's that?" Taiga asked, upon noticing the small parcel which Kuroto was holding. 

"I have a present for Nico too," Kuroto replied. 

Taiga took the parcel from him after handing Kuroto his collar pin. He judged from the weight of the small box that it contained a replacement mug for the one they had broken. Sure enough, he opened it up to find a brand new #SWAG mug, but one that was a variant of the original mug. While Nico's original mug was neon pink with #SWAG written in black, this new one was black with #SWAG written in blue, pink and silver glitter. 

"She'll love this," Taiga said, putting the precious mug back in the box to keep it safe. "Thanks, this will definitely become her favourite mug. But she'll still wonder what happened to her old one." 

"Just tell her that we broke it. Being honest now will make it easier once we've all become one family."

Bringing home his point, Kuroto pulled Taiga close. Taiga was about to ask what he was doing, and remind him that they were in public, when Kuroto softly kissed him on his forehead.

Taiga couldn't remember when anyone who wasn't his kid had kissed him there. His eyelashes fluttered as Kuroto's lips touched the top of his head. 

"I'll kiss you like this everyday," Kuroto murmured. "That would be nice, wouldn't it, Taiga?" 

"Mmm," Taiga simply said. 

He'd rather keep his reservations to himself for now, since he and Kuroto hadn't decided on anything yet. As he watched Kuroto pull away in his car, he went over the obstacles which he and Kuroto would have to overcome if they were to become co-parents. 

Number one, their children's hatred towards each other. If they were a family, Nico would be the older sibling and big sister due to being a few months older than Parad, but Taiga wasn't sure if that would be much consolation for her. 

Number two, his and Kuroto's different parenting styles. Kuroto was a more hands-off dad, and Taiga couldn't see him waging Taiga's daily battle of getting his kid to do boring things like math homework and cleaning their room. Their different ways of bringing up their kids was perhaps a major reason on why their kids couldn't get along. 

Oh God, Taiga would have to negotiate every aspect of maintaining their household with Kuroto. From how to discipline their kids to what they would have for dinner. Gone was his authority from being the head of the household, but then Taiga would have someone to sleep with every night. 

He could look forward to that, for he had confirmed that Kuroto didn't like to sleep on Taiga's preferred side of the bed. 


End file.
